Many people have dreams about how to improve their homes but they have procrastinated because of money problems or just because it seems to be such a daunting job. As a retired real estate agent I can promise you that some things will really payoff much better than others. Most people are aware that remodeling a kitchen or bath is at the top of the list as far as eventually recouping your money. But there are some more jobs that will really add to the actual enjoyment of a home while enhancing its appearance. I’m talking about adding a sunroom or screened porch.
Adding a porch makes a lot of difference in the lifestyles of the family. I know because I grew up spending most of my summers and practically all of the spring and fall out on our family’s huge screened back porch. We ate cookouts and barbecues in chairs on the porch. My siblings and I played jacks, cards and Monopoly there. I took naps on our large hanging swing under the cool breeze of a ceiling fan. When I showed houses as an agent, people almost always reacted with delight when they saw a screened porch on them. Almost as much delight was expressed when people went through a beautiful sunroom. A sunroom is like a transition between outdoors and inside, only it’s a year-round place to spend time enjoying as much sun and brightness as possible. With Americans spending a lot more time at home, these are very popular additions. It’s estimated that about half a million Americans are adding sunrooms to their homes each year.
The main expense in adding on a sunroom or screened porch is the actual construction of the room. There will be the additional expenses of flooring, insulation, electrical wiring and outlets, paint, sheetrock, and HVAC venting and pipe extensions. The sunroom can be planned for heavy winter or summer use by opting to add good insulation to ceiling and walls, but this is a choice of the homeowner. A foundation should be concrete or concrete block. Using PVC for the walls is a lot cheaper than wood, but it can’t be used on historical homes. The insulation should be the highest grade effective. Choose glazing that lets in light as desired yet keeps heat out when it gets hot outside. It’s a good idea to have some windows that open as well as the majority of fixed windows. Vinyl will be the cheapest choice here and clad windows will have almost the energy efficiency of expensive wood windows. It is well worth the cost to pay for triple-pane glazing or gas-filled double glazed windows because of energy efficiency. If there’s already a porch, building knee walls and enclosing with windows will be a far less expensive route than constructing an entire new structure.
Servicemagic is a site where people can enter their zip codes to find a licensed local contractor for their work. It’s a good general resource that will give you a place to start. People who are really handy with tools and can follow careful guidelines can even do much of the work of enclosing an existing porch by framing it in, insulating, and purchasing their windows at a big box store like Home Depot or Lowes. Popular Mechanics has a step-by-step guide for doing this, but don’t even attempt it if you haven’t done some carpentry before. What is saved in cost will be completely eaten up in time. It’s a good idea to get a professional roofer to do that job and to install any skylights. Make double sure that the roofer is licensed, experiences and can give multiple referrals.
Another alternative is to hire a company to install a pre-fab sunroom. Some of these can be really beautiful. There are many pre-fab sunroom installation companies and I have been in some rooms one or two installed in my town. By doing a search online it’s possible to come up with several companies that look good. Just be very sure to check them out and compare prices. One that I found, Brady-Built Sunrooms, advertises that they can add a pre-fab sunroom in a day for as little as $17,000, but I’m sure this is bottom of the line. I have never seen a pre-fab with a fixed roof, however, only ones with complete glass ceilings, making the room almost have the appearance of a greenhouse.
